Meet Stephanie Pregent, a research staff member at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Pregent joined the university's interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program in September 2014 and supported the Illinois Kids Development Study, which is housed within Beckman, from 2014-2015.

Pregent has lived in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Oregon, Peoria, Jerusalem, Israel and Champaign, so she has many experiences from which to draw in her current role. Even after her recent 10-year work anniversary, Pregent continuously finds and overcomes new challenges.

When she isn’t doing administrative duties for the Neuroscience Program, she can most likely be found with her family, trying out creative hobbies or pursuing a master’s in education policy, organization, and leadership from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Describe your career path up until this point.

After working for a nonprofit for 9 years, I interviewed for a role at Beckman in 2014. I started at 50% time in September 2014 doing administrative duties for the Neuroscience Program. I began working for IKIDS on research questionnaires and helped collect information from participants. By fall 2017, I was working full-time for the Neuroscience Program.

I’ve worked in a lot of different fields like teaching, retail, working in a movie theater and doing office management for an architecture firm. These experiences have helped me in my various roles at Beckman because I have been able to adapt [to the] challenges thrown at me.

What are you proudest of?

Family is the thing that holds me and grounds me, so I would say my family is my biggest pride and joy. When I was younger, my grandmother and grandfather were upset when my parents moved to a suburb in Cincinnati because it was more than a 7-minute walk from where they lived. We had Friday night dinners every week at my grandparents' house. I have family all over the world now; my brother moved to Israel 12 years ago, but with different communication apps, we still can talk to and see him frequently. His oldest daughter had a baby this February and I hope to be able to meet her soon.

Stephanie Pregent and her family. Credit: Stephanie Pregent.For my family here in Champaign, I am always proud of our small, kind moments. One weekend in October, I was doing some yard work. My middle child and my youngest were helping with everything, and their camaraderie and conversation was a huge pride moment.

Outside of your professional experience, what are you an expert in?

I think I'm more of a dabbler than an expert, but I started doing amigurumi, the art of crocheting animals, a couple years ago. I’ve made a monkey for my niece who just had her baby. I have also done an owl and a crab, which are in my office at Beckman.

Crochet crab. Credit: Stephanie Pregent.

I recently started working on a blanket with granny squares, but I have yet to finish all of it. I have also done various cooking things such as baking bread, and I created an educator’s guide for a book that a woman in town wrote. It is published and available online.

Finally, I'm a Champaign-Urbana mentor, and I just finished this past May when my mentee graduated. We were together while she was in third grade through 12th grade, and it was rewarding to see how she changed over the years.

Crochet monkey. Credit: Stephanie Pregent.

When and where are you happiest?

I'm definitely a homebody, so I am happiest at home, whether it's my home here or my parents' house in Cincinnati.

Aside from this, I love to be with friends. A couple of years ago, I went to San Diego with two of my friends, and that was probably one of the best experiences. One of my favorite memories is going to the beach at 7 a.m. We just walked at early tide while the animals crawled in the tide pools and sat down watching. We felt right at home.

Who is your hero of fiction? Who is your hero in real life?

I like stories of women who overcome struggles and find their inner strength.

In terms of other heroes, my grandmother is definitely mine. She left Russia in 1920 and remembered the Russian Revolution, which she used to tell us stories about. My grandfather was a towering figure at 6 feet, 2 inches tall and my grandmother, maybe at her tallest, was 5 feet, 2 inches, but she was the true heart of the family. She's the one who kept everybody so close, and I miss her regularly. I am thankful every day for my parents still being with us.

Crochet owl. Credit: Stephanie Pregent.Do you have a motto or a principle that you live by? Where did you first hear this?

I watched a movie recently, and a woman said that instead of saying “I have to,” the secret was saying, “I get to.” That rang true because in my life, these are opportunities we have, and are not things we have to do, but are things we get to participate in. That has made such a difference in how I see things in my life. Getting to work here is a blessing because I work with all sorts of interesting individuals, and I get to keep in touch with students who have graduated and moved on to incredible careers.

What is your favorite outdoor activity?

I love to work outside in summer, spring or fall. We’ve been chopping trees down recently and have had piles of wood on the side of the house, so I’ve been putting extra by our curb. Someone came by and took almost everything I had put out, and that was fantastic.

I like knowing that the things we have but don’t need anymore are being used and can make a difference in someone else’s life. I love to be able to pay it forward.